Local columnist plain wrong on Social Security

Nicholas Johnson's recent guest column ("Proposed Social Security changes punish the poor," Dec. 26) is a combination of misstatement of fact and faulty logic.? First, Social Security did add $103 billion to the 2011 federal budget deficit to pay for payroll tax holiday. It has added to the budget deficit every year since the mid-'70s when the government created the EITC to offset the high cost of payroll taxes for lower wage workers. By law Social Security adds to the Federal budget deficit every year.

? Second, Johnson states that savings from indexing benefits would fall on the elderly poor. Social Security benefits are connected to past contributions, not need. The majority of the changes would hit those who contributed the most in the past - in other words, high wage earners.

? He concludes that a fairer way to change Social Security is to punish the young by raising taxes on workers. This version of fair means that we take from those who get the least from Social Security to give to those who have taken the most. Specifically, the Urban Institute research shows us that the returns of Social Security have declined every decade over its 77-year existance. According to its research, people who retired before 2011 collected a positive return; people retiring after 2011 lose a progressively larger amount.

The writer is right about one thing: the savings from indexing benefits will not reduce our deficit. It will help perserve the system for the elderly poor in the future, ones who will be subjected to much more severe cuts than what we are proposing today.